Award-winning news anchor sails to new ratings low
posted at 4:00 pm on June 9, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Katie Couric won an award from the USC Annenberg School of Journalism for her interview with Sarah Palin, but CBS is losing viewers by the bucketload. TV Newser posted the bad news earlier today; Couric not only has lost viewers, but she’s gone below a previous new low in audience that Couric herself set during the presidential campaign:
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the #1 evening newscast again last week with a more than 800,000 viewer lead over #2 World News with Charles Gibson. And with an average of 5.18M Total Viewers, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric had its lowest viewership yet. In fact, it’s the lowest viewership since at least the 1991/92 season, as far back as Nielsen records track.
But — but — but — she’s a great journalist! USC Annenberg told us so! Helen Thomas says “she saved the country” through her tough interview with Palin! Of course, now that the country has almost reached double-digit unemployment and the Obama administration has gone on a record-setting spending spree and deficit explosion, the idea that attacking Palin “saved” anyone seems even more ludicrous than it did a month ago, when Thomas first claimed it.
So why is CBS hitting new depths with its attack anchor? Maybe because Katie likes to attack Republicans but somehow misses the fact that Joe Biden has no clue whatsoever:
“When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed,” Biden told Couric. “He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’”
Katie didn’t know that FDR wasn’t President when the market crashed, and that television — her industry — didn’t have commercial broadcasts for more than a decade afterwards. Either that, or Katie wanted to carry Biden’s water, and Barack Obama’s as well.
No wonder viewers have left CBS Evening News. They can watch better cheerleaders on ESPN2.
Update: I forgot the link to TV Newser, and just added it now. Do me a favor and click over there a couple of times. Thanks to The Right Scoop on Twitter for letting me know.
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Couric, Letterman…CBS, the home of losers!
8starsnorth on June 9, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Dan Rather killed CBS long ago. Couric is just keeping the zombie corpse animated until it rots.
Iblis on June 9, 2009 at 4:29 PM
A rumor that makes the rounds in the stock world is that CBS will be sold (it’s around 8.60 today, but was in the 3′s several months ago) and it will become a cable network instead of a broadcast one.
JiangxiDad on June 9, 2009 at 4:29 PM
B-Bye Katie! I think Southwest Airlines is hiring……
Jason58 on June 9, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Sure, Katie Couric sucks as an anchor babe but even a conservative woman doing the national evening news would probably finish last in the ratings. During the 6:30 timeslot viewers don’t want some perky cheerleader type like Couric. Save the cheerleaders for the morning programs. That’s where Couric flourished. In the evening, viewers want a grim and somber old fart to give them the news. Charlie Gibson is already an old fart and Brian Williams is fast getting there.
Percy_Peabody on June 9, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Who really wants to look at this every night?
http://www.beautifulhairstyles.com/tv/pictures/katiecouricpixie.jpg
sweettasha on June 9, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I have no doubt that Couric lost a large majority of her female audience after her “interview” with Palin. Most of the women I know are willing to tolerate the feminist liberal, until they blatantly come gunning for one of us.
Yet another “professional” in the media who acted without considering the consequences. The arrogance of the liberal MSM doesn’t reflect in their ratings, overall.
Lady Texan on June 9, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Good one!
Maybe she can have her own show on E!. You know along with Kendra, Denise, and Kim!
freeus on June 9, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Katie Couric is no babe.
rukiddingme on June 9, 2009 at 4:32 PM
The USS Liberal has hit an iceberg.
Thanks Global Warming.
“No problem Greg.”
fogw on June 9, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Let’s hope ABC realizes that Jake Tapper’s odd fact-based confrontational style (some people use the term “journalism”) is helping their ratings. If a network gave me a whole team of Jake Tappers, I’d watch every night, because I might learn something.
hawksruleva on June 9, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Katie Couric will be back to interviewing D-listers soon enough.
V15J on June 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM
I wouldn’t wish that on any rock I know.
chemman on June 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM
I was once a teenager.
Lonely years.
MadisonConservative on June 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM
This rating is completely unfair. She didn’t lose 2 million viewers, instead she either saved or created 100,000 of ‘em. Besides, she can see an additional 5 million viewers from her house!
RtWingXtremist on June 9, 2009 at 4:34 PM
But CBS does really well in prime-time. That makes the ill fortunes of Couric and Letterman even more noteworthy. If you can’t beat the competition when your promos are running in the top-rated shows, then you’re WAY behind.
hawksruleva on June 9, 2009 at 4:35 PM
QOTD!!
Huff-FluffOpponent on June 9, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Katie was okay on the Today Show. But then she decided to become a “serious” journalist, and that was the beginning of the end for her. She’s too cute, too girly, to fill the night time anchor chair. And when she tries to get tough? She’s a yapping chihuahua. Silly and annoying.
Dee2008 on June 9, 2009 at 4:35 PM
How do you know he’s correct?
Bobbertsan on June 9, 2009 at 4:36 PM
She inherited this CBS mess and she’s only been the anchor for a couple of years. It takes time to correct the crimes of the ChimpyMcHitler junta such that the audience sees the light.
Or something like that.
Django on June 9, 2009 at 4:37 PM
I’m coming late to this thread, so maybe someone has already said this. But I cannot think of a more appropriate metaphor for the job that katie is doing than an anchor.
She’s dragging the entire network down to the lowest depths.
UltimateBob on June 9, 2009 at 4:38 PM
I’m with you.
Dee2008 on June 9, 2009 at 4:38 PM
Its a beautiful thing,
watching,’Ambush Perky Katie’s',
ratings,crashing like a well
shot up Stuka divebomber,hurd
ling to the ground!(Sarc).
canopfor on June 9, 2009 at 4:38 PM
Katie you ignorant sl&t.
redrock on June 9, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Wow, not bad, considering that she majored in English and History in college.
Many people don’t know that early on, the Perky One actually worked at CNN.
Del Dolemonte on June 9, 2009 at 4:41 PM
From the start, even from day one on the Today Show, you could tell Couric was a phony. On the outside, she’s Julie Andrews, but on the inside she’s Katrina vanden Evil. And if you watch her enough, little Katrina always peeks her evil little head out and you know it’s all been an act.
RBMN on June 9, 2009 at 4:42 PM
So why isn’t she fired?
rlongstrat on June 9, 2009 at 4:44 PM
News anchor slut.
/Letterman mind meld
SouthernGent on June 9, 2009 at 4:44 PM
“Most of the women I know are willing to tolerate the feminist liberal, until they blatantly come gunning for one of us.” I think you may be friends with my wife. She and her buddies were really energized by Palin but when she started getting the meat grinder treatment I could see the burn.
On the plus side, we discovered that bold new comedy channel MSNBC and we actally do watch it for laughs sometime. That pairing of Mathews and Olby was priceless during the election.
DanMan on June 9, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Ed, I can’t believe you used the “C” word. There is no call for that kind of language;)
Laura in Maryland on June 9, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Hey, didn’t she save the world or something?
MikeA on June 9, 2009 at 4:48 PM
I hear she’s very adept at corporate hindlick maneuvers.
44Magnum on June 9, 2009 at 4:51 PM
I was at the library yesterday and gagged a little bit when I saw a children’s book on the shelf with her picture on the back cover(it was relatively old). Because of that, this news is even more satisfying.
thebrokenrattle on June 9, 2009 at 4:53 PM
It’s hard to believe that Couric is only once removed from Cronkite. Cronkite mostly kept his bias to himself while he was the anchor and people want someone who makes them feel good about the news. Couric makes people feel as though a former cheerleader is reading off of the teleprompter. She isn’t believeable or likeable. Most of the people who saw her on the Today Show were stay-at-home moms and students.
And why hasn’t Helen Thomas been left in the barn or tied to a post with a feedbag full of oats tied to her head? It’s hard to like someone who lives under a bridge and gives the Billy Goats Gruff a hard time.
slug on June 9, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Katie Couric is not a nice person. It’s that simple. She’s a vicious partisan all wrapped up in big white teeth, but her enmity for anyone who isn’t as liberal and as elite as she is is utterly transparent. That’s why no one watches her. Who wants to spend a half hour watching that bitchy fake girl from junior high read the news?
Rational Thought on June 9, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Well we all know that Katie can’t see the Cuda’s approval ratings from where she’s at!
ice princess on June 9, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Whatever happened to Jane Pauley? She was a looker.
MadisonConservative on June 9, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Really, Tet Offensive, anyone?
rukiddingme on June 9, 2009 at 5:00 PM
If they replaced Couric with Logan, I would at least have to watch. :-^)
Oink.
-Dave
Dave R. on June 9, 2009 at 5:01 PM
The other ones, right?
Jim Treacher on June 9, 2009 at 5:01 PM
The last time I recently read about her was of course he graduation speech with the Palin “jokes”, so this is wonderful news. When I have time I’ll scroll back and check out the “I can see — from my —” jokes.
Marcus on June 9, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Good.
Alana on June 9, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Not only did FDR get on the radio to talk “greed”, he didn’t have a clue what was going on, and what he did tell people was comforting but completely backward.
Count to 10 on June 9, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Maybe Ba Ba wawa will give Katie a seat on the ‘view”. Aha, just when you thought that show couldn’t get more disgusting…….*sigh*
clinker46 on June 9, 2009 at 5:12 PM
After reading her Princeton speech on HuffPo, it’s not difficult to understand her fall. She chastized the kids and the administration for allowing her to be the first non Princeton woman to give a Class Day Address, rattling off a list of better choices and concluding “WTF.” She also suggested that she may have been given the gig because the actor who played Dougie Howser and stars on How I met Your Mother “or as we like to call it at CBS, my favorite MILF” may have turned them down.
EconomicNeocon on June 9, 2009 at 5:14 PM
capejasmine on June 9, 2009 at 5:16 PM
oh, you are so right on!!! Thank you, I couldn’t think of who Mssssss Couric reminded me of, you hit it on the head. that ‘bitchy fake girl from high school’. Perfect….Thanks rational thought……..*sigh*
clinker46 on June 9, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Actually, Uncle Waltor showed his bias when he “reported” from Vietnam. He actually convinced the American people that they had lost the war.
Del Dolemonte on June 9, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Bill O’Pompous on Fox is getting pretty close to overtaking Katie Clueless in total viewers.
Wouldn’t that be something.
Bill O’s head would explode.
notagool on June 9, 2009 at 5:26 PM
20 million people still watch network news?? What the hell for?
JDPerren on June 9, 2009 at 5:26 PM
The bad news is that Brian Williams is still getting viewers. And Charlie Gibson.
petunia on June 9, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Cancellation is eminent, at least she will have her phony award for liberal activism on the mantle.
echosyst on June 9, 2009 at 5:32 PM
petunia on June 9, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Go back to the Voight thread and explain your comment.
Disturb the Universe on June 9, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Charlie Gibson is pretty down the middle. Didn’t like the palin interview, but she coulda done better. Plus tapper is on abc and he actually is fact based
Abc is the best of them. Heck they ran that path to 911 movie even
battleoflepanto1571 on June 9, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Katie’s 17 year younger boyfriend, and her billion dollar deal with CBS…invites to all the cool parties….hardly a loser……wonder what she will wear in Hell?
nondhimmie on June 9, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Failing in the ratings?! Couldn’t happen to a
nicernastier girl!Btw, I think the only thing keeping her this long, is CBS doesn’t want the “loser” publicity press they would get for letting her go…i.e. all the stories and speculation on where she/they went wrong, what caused the demise, it would look bad for them, bad for revenue…waiting for a more “opportune” time I think…
Minorcan Maven on June 9, 2009 at 5:48 PM
What does it say about CBS when they leave in Biden’s comment about TV in 1929. They didn’t catch it any more than katydid! (cricket sounds — insert here) I mean, it isn’t like this is their own media (TV) Biden was talking about! Clip is uber appropriate Ed.
Danzo on June 9, 2009 at 5:50 PM
…prisoners, shut-ins, and nursing home residents with advanced dementia.
Drunken Angry Clown on June 9, 2009 at 5:51 PM
But, she’s so…perky!
Mr. Grump on June 9, 2009 at 5:54 PM
When Katie was here in the Great NW she was told by her peers that she had potential. Not everyone reaches it.
.
Now my perception of her is that her peers were wrong about that potential part. She now has reached her level of incompetence (peter “princess” principal)
Americannodash on June 9, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Just like the Left, to award mediocrity.
Al Gore, Katie, Jimmuh, the Dixie Twits.
ToddonCapeCod on June 9, 2009 at 5:59 PM
She’s a useless twit. Hopefully, this is a sign people are waking up.
Tuari on June 9, 2009 at 6:03 PM
couric is a like a nasty little ankle biting dawg – looks like she is balding too, maybe the mange? ick
Ris4victory on June 9, 2009 at 6:06 PM
I can see Couric’s failure from my house
Wade on June 9, 2009 at 6:13 PM
CBS, NY Slimes, Air America. Anyone else see a pattern developing?
dogsoldier on June 9, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Seriously, they can’t be that out of touch, can they?
ajsp on June 9, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Seriously, they can’t be that out of touch, can they?
ajsp on June 9, 2009 at 6:18 PM
.
It is not that they are out of touch. They are well aware of their positions and agendas and those must be adhered to. This is for along time now the “perception and projection” news format of not giving the public the straight news but their filtered version of events. I call it the skews (skewd news).
Americannodash on June 9, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Couric is losing viewers? BEST news I’ve heard all day! My faith in mankind is restored.
debage01 on June 9, 2009 at 6:38 PM
If her award were tied to sexual performance, I could at least imagine how she might of gotten it!
Lonetown on June 9, 2009 at 6:39 PM
CBS / Russkaya Pravda – not much difference. Neither is very popular.
diogenes on June 9, 2009 at 6:48 PM
What a cow. I say shove a methane monitor in the wind bag and watch the carbon meter fly off the charts.
wonk-a-donk on June 9, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Does anyone really watch SeeBS?
GarandFan on June 9, 2009 at 6:50 PM
On the bright side back in 2002 when “Bias” by Bernie Goldberg came out he stated that 30 million people were still watching network news and that’s why it was so important. The networks have lost 10 million voters in 7 years.
Oh, and Bill O’Reilly won’t ever pass Couric. I’d love to see it but 5 million compared to 2 million. I guess if you add up all 3 of his shows he might one day but how many of those viewers saw the previous show?
Capitalist Infidel on June 9, 2009 at 6:50 PM
That’s not the “C” word I’m thinking of.
infidel4life on June 9, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Doesn’t matter how many “awards” she wins, still doesn’t change how out of touch she is with America.
podank on June 9, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Funny how “award-winning” doesn’t have the same glow to it as it did when it really meant something, not just in this case but in general. Ask any kid in any class, in public school, who has been the recipient of one of 25 blue ribbons given for the same project.
DonnaC on June 9, 2009 at 7:12 PM
This is most likely the most vile description I use regarding women, and it’s a rare event. But it applies to Ms. Katie.
Sperm Receptacle
BobMbx on June 9, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Katie who? She has a show on television? Really? I didn’t know. Not many others do either, apparently, from her historic and well-deserved ratings collapse. She’s as much a “journalist” as my cat Chloe. Chloe might be more of one, since when she says she wants dinner she isn’t obfuscating the facts.
bradley11 on June 9, 2009 at 7:14 PM
Liberals rely on a populace dumbed down by 40 years of government control of the public schools. What they forget is that there are still tens of thousands of the Great Generation still alive, who not only know the truth but impart that to their grandchildren.
Couric and her liberal ilk believe conservatives are dinosaurs, but it’s really her, Biden, and the other throwbacks to Marx of the 19th Century who are behind the times, behind the modern era.
The grindstone of God crushes slow, but it grinds small. CBS made an investment but business dictates will have Couric removed at some future point. Biden, too. Dan Quayle made gaffes here and there but Biden is far worse. I know honest liberals, and those people know a phony and buttnut when they see one. Having them admit it is another matter, which will come. Biden and Couric, like all excesses, eventually become their own undoing.
Liam on June 9, 2009 at 7:27 PM
I’ve said all along that if all of the Fox affiliates ran “Special Report” that the network newscasts would go away.
The only person worse than her on CBS is Letterman.
On second thought, it’s a toss up. I’d have to watch them to decide and that will never happen.
darwin-t on June 9, 2009 at 7:36 PM
she better have Jon Voight in her program to boost the raitings
Ropera on June 9, 2009 at 7:42 PM
What are these awards anyway? Liberals giving other liberals an award. That’s it. One year it goes to Couric, the next it’ll be Williams, then Gibson. It’s just a cycle. Totally meaningless.
Capitalist Infidel on June 9, 2009 at 7:58 PM
Too late for that!
She needs to breakout those journalistic kneepads (the same one’s used by MSNBC, Chrissy and Olbermann) and start doing what she does best, “journalism” !
DSchoen on June 9, 2009 at 8:13 PM
Katie and Obama have the same thing in common.
They are useless without a teleprompter telling them what to say and think.
roninacreage on June 9, 2009 at 8:15 PM
There is no way CBS can cut Cute Katie. Her job is one of the 600,000 Obama has “saved”.
iflyfish on June 9, 2009 at 8:31 PM
Wasn’t Katies journalistic high point an on the air live colon exam.
Jeff from WI on June 9, 2009 at 8:46 PM
Nobody listens to Couric anymore….bye bye……
Baaboo on June 9, 2009 at 8:50 PM
Be thankful she’s with CBS and not the Today Show, which still does pretty decent ratings numbers nationwide. At least she’s now pretty much invisible; kind of like an old, broken screwdriver buried in Obama’s media tool box.
Goldy1 on June 9, 2009 at 9:24 PM
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was the #1 evening newscast again last week with a more than 800,000 viewer lead over #2 World News with Charles Gibson. And with an average of 5.18M Total Viewers, the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric had its lowest viewership yet. In fact, it’s the lowest viewership since at least the 1991/92 season, as far back as Nielsen records track
Does this include Fox News as well?
paulsur on June 9, 2009 at 9:26 PM
Wasn’t Couric’s interview with Sarah Palin edited?…
4shoes on June 9, 2009 at 9:35 PM
I’m kind of wondering why CBS keeps Katie on.I mean, she was never much of a journalist. As for the “perky” Katie, er ah..well she hasn’t been “perky”since 1989. In fact, the last time I saw her on TV, I told my wife she looks like she’s narrowed the age gap between her and Helen Thomas down to a couple of years.
Jeff from WI on June 9, 2009 at 10:03 PM
She lost me long before the Palin interview…I wouldn’t watch her on any show.
Rockygold on June 9, 2009 at 10:26 PM
I’ll by a Chrysler before I watch Ms. Perky.
diogenes on June 9, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Katie who?
Hobbes on June 9, 2009 at 11:17 PM
That’s what you get for being in the tank.
SoulGlo on June 9, 2009 at 11:32 PM
I wonder if Couric can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel…that is her career?
Dr. ZhivBlago on June 10, 2009 at 1:49 AM
Think about it this way.CBS hired Couric as their “tokan” to please the PC crowd. There was no way she was getting that job based on talent, and EVERYONE knows it.
Jeff from WI on June 10, 2009 at 6:12 AM
Now you know why they call her an ANCHOR.
Geochelone on June 10, 2009 at 7:55 AM
Katie Koran is a toxic asset. I hope she stays with the State Run Media Cartel CBS and drags them down to the marianas trench. He job was shovel ready and she dug her own hole.
Geochelone on June 10, 2009 at 7:58 AM
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